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Semantic evidence for functional categories in interlanguage grammars

Semantic evidence for functional categories in interlanguage grammars
Semantic evidence for functional categories in interlanguage grammars
This study investigates how semantic properties of functional categories are acquired by second language (L2) learners in an instructional setting. The following properties of the functional category (FC) of AspectP are under investigation:

1) English simple present tense cannot denote an ongoing event;

2) progressive morphology is needed for an ongoing interpretation; and

3) English bare verbal forms denote closed, or completed, events.

All three properties are not instantiated in Bulgarian. Only the first two properties are explicitly taught in English classrooms in Bulgaria, while the third is not. A Truth Value Judgement Task, a guided composition task and a proficiency test were administered to 112 Bulgarian learners of English and 24 native speaker controls. Results indicate that L2 learners at all proficiency levels are aware of the English aspectual contrasts.These findings suggest that L2 learners are able to acquire interpretable formal features not transferable from their native language. Furthermore, they are able to acquire properties of the grammar that are not explicitly taught in language classrooms.
0267-6583
42-75
Slabakova, Roumyana
1bda11ce-ce3d-4146-8ae3-4a486b6f5bde
Slabakova, Roumyana
1bda11ce-ce3d-4146-8ae3-4a486b6f5bde

Slabakova, Roumyana (2003) Semantic evidence for functional categories in interlanguage grammars. Second Language Research, 19 (1), 42-75. (doi:10.1191/0267658303sr214oa).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This study investigates how semantic properties of functional categories are acquired by second language (L2) learners in an instructional setting. The following properties of the functional category (FC) of AspectP are under investigation:

1) English simple present tense cannot denote an ongoing event;

2) progressive morphology is needed for an ongoing interpretation; and

3) English bare verbal forms denote closed, or completed, events.

All three properties are not instantiated in Bulgarian. Only the first two properties are explicitly taught in English classrooms in Bulgaria, while the third is not. A Truth Value Judgement Task, a guided composition task and a proficiency test were administered to 112 Bulgarian learners of English and 24 native speaker controls. Results indicate that L2 learners at all proficiency levels are aware of the English aspectual contrasts.These findings suggest that L2 learners are able to acquire interpretable formal features not transferable from their native language. Furthermore, they are able to acquire properties of the grammar that are not explicitly taught in language classrooms.

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More information

Published date: January 2003
Organisations: Modern Languages

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 353567
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/353567
ISSN: 0267-6583
PURE UUID: 4cf4f70e-1e16-428c-860a-ad3926c37fa2
ORCID for Roumyana Slabakova: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-5839-460X

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 18 Jun 2013 12:00
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:48

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